'Headlamps'

• A headlamp is a light, usually attached to the front of a vehicle such as a car, with the purpose of illuminating the road ahead during periods of low visibility, such as night or precipitation (also called headlights).
• History of automotive headlamps: Mechanics - The earliest headlamps were fueled by acetylene or oil and were introduced by drivers in the late 1880s. Acetylene was popular because the flame was resistant to wind and rain
• Prest-O-Lite acetylene lights were offered by a number of manufacturers as standard equipment for 1904, and Peerless made electrical headlamps standard in 1908
• Dipping (low beam) headlamps were introduced in 1915 by the Guide Lamp Company, but the 1917 Cadillac system was much more useful as it allowed the light to be dipped with a lever inside the car rather than requiring the driver to stop and get out
• In 1927, the foot-operated dimmer was introduced and would become standard for much of the century. The last vehicle with a foot-operated dimmer was the 1991 Ford F-Series
• Halogen technology is considered a technological advance because it makes incandescent filaments much more efficient and can produce more light than was available from non-halogen filaments at the same power consumption
• Early headlamps were always round, because that is the easiest shape in which to manufacture a parabolic reflector
• Quad headlamps—four round lamps, rather than two; one high/low and one high-beam 5-3/4" (146 mm) sealed beam on each side—were introduced in 1952 when the Prevost Car company included them in its Citaden bus model
• High beams (called main beams, full beams, or driving beams in some countries) cast most of their light straight ahead, maximizing seeing distance, but producing too much glare for safe use when other vehicles are present on the road
• Low beams (also called dipped beams) have stricter control of upward light, and direct most of their light downward and either rightward or leftward, to provide safe forward visibility without excessive glare or backdazzle
• North American vehicle owners sometimes privately import and install Japanese-market (JDM) headlamps on their car in the mistaken belief that the beam performance will be better, when in fact such misapplication is quite hazardous
• There are two different beam pattern and headlamp construction standards in use in the world: The ECE standard, which is allowed or required in virtually all industrialized countries except the United States, and the SAE standard that is mandatory only in the US
• In North America, the design, performance and installation of all motor vehicle lighting devices are regulated by Federal and Canada Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 108, which incorporates SAE technical standards. Elsewhere in the world, ECE internationalised regulations are in force either by reference or by incorporation in individual countries' vehicular codes
• Headlamps on new vehicles must produce white light, according to both ECE and SAE standards. Previous ECE regulations also permitted selective yellow light, and from 1936 until 1993 this was required on all vehicles registered in France

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